British Army v Nepal National Team

The Nepal National Team were at the Aldershot Military Stadium on Friday 3 May 2024 to play a friendly fixture versus the British Army Men’s Representative Team as a Community Engagement initiative prior to their match on Bank Holiday Monday (06 May) versus the England “C” team to be played at Aldershot Town FC. The visit, also supported by Aldershot Town FC and Hampshire FA, is to help raise the profile of football to the Nepalese community in England and increase participation from the wider south Asian communities as part of the Football Association Asian Inclusion Strategy.

The match was classed as a “Military Only” event and hundreds of soldiers from the Brigade of Gurkhas who travelled from as far as Catterick were invited to attend this historic occasion. In addition to those in attendance the match also attracted 100,000 viewers on BFBS You Tube, Forces News and Facebook including 11,000 watching in Nepal on BFBS Gurkha.

After the respective National Anthems were played it was honours even as an entertaining match resulted in a 0-0 draw; a marvellous achievement against the FIFA affiliated country in Army Head Coach Jimmy Blair’s final match in the role.

The Army team also included six players in their squad from Aldershot based Gurkha unit 10 The Queen's Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment (QOGLR).

At the end of the game after a group photo the opportunity arose for the Nepal players and management team to mix with the Gurkha soldiers on the pitch.

Army Team:
Army: Gdsmn Sam Heard (Infantry), Bdr Sam Brookes (RA), Sujan Gurung (10 QOGLR), Capt Mo Sabo (RLC), Sgt Andy Matthews (Infantry), Sgt Craig Stevenson (RE), LCpl Dom Warmsey (Infantry), Spr Callum Vincent (RE), Cpl Jamie Turner (R SIgs), LBdr Harry Berkley (RA), LCpl Aaron Moore (REME) Subs: Cpl Luke Cairney (RE), LCpl Kishan Gurung (10 QOGLR), Bradley Lucas (AGC), LCpl Saroj Gurung (10 QOGLR), Pte Deny Ghale (10 QOGLR), Pte Umesh Rai (10 QOGLR), Pte Ronal Rai (10 QOGLR), Csgt Momodou Leesay (Infantry) LCPl Prasant Tamang (R Sigs)

Nepal Starting XI: Kiran Kumar Limbu, Chhring Lama, Sanish Shrestha, Bishal Basnet, Bimal Pandey, Saubhagya Rai, Utshab Rai, Manish Sangi, Laken Limbu, Sanjeev Bista, Anjan Bista

Referee: Ash Allen (RAPTC), Assts: Jimmy McNee, Rob Hodgen, 4th Official: James Rees